Operation COFFEE
by Hisha P
Summary: Caffeine Of the Future Fuels Enemies Everywhere
1. Chapter 1

Four kids woke up in their respective rooms in an enormous tree house, like they usually did.

Four kids got up then gathered around the breakfast table, like they usually did.

Four kids yawned and ate their cereals and did their best to chase the last remnant of sleepiness from their bodies and minds, like they usually did.

Wait. They were only four. This wasn't a normal morning at all.

It was Sector V's first morning in their tree house since Numbuh 1 left Earth. The silence around the table was so deafening the remaining members of Sector V were almost relieved when the apparition of a big sphere of blinding light right next to the breakfast table gave them something else to think about.

The four of them leapt away from the breakfast table and grabbed the nearest weapons in one swift motion. They readied their S.P.L.A.N.K.E.R.s while the sphere disappeared to reveal… a person?

The mysterious individual was covered head to toe with armour very similar to what you would find on some KND operatives except it also incorporated various LED and dials (notably on the right arm) even Numbuh 2 didn't know the purpose of. Large ski goggles masked the top half of the stranger's face and the mouthpiece of their helmet covered the lower half.

"Is… Is Numbuh 1 here?" they asked Sector V.

"Who are you and how did you do that?" Numbuh 5 replied.

It was quite difficult to determine the intruder's age, but Abby was pretty sure they were too tall to be a kid : they were taller than her sister.

The stranger pointed to the number 111 painted in red on their chest piece.

"I'm Numbuh 111. I'm a teen operative from the future. We built a time a machine so I could help you. I take it Numbuh 1 left Earth already?"

"How do you know that?" asked the current leader of Sector V.

"I'm from the future. Numbuh 1 is legendary in my time. Anyway, it might be too late to see him now but it's not too late for the other thing."

Numbuh 111 extended their gloved hand towards the kids and pressed a small button on their wrist, causing a small hologram of the Earth to appear. In the projection, some place in the middle of the Pacific Ocean was marked with a flashing red X.

"The adults pump- will pump a very special kind of coffee in this location. It's ten times stronger than the strongest coffee previously discovered. It made the adults too powerful to be stopped. They rule- I mean, will rule the world and the few operatives left have to hide to survive."

Numbuh 2 observed the tiny hologram projector carefully, Numbuh 3 lowered her weapon and asked the teen if there were Rainbow Monkeys in the future (or rather, she asked about a very long list of all the kinds of Rainbow Monkeys that had ever been available on the market) and Numbuh 4 looked uncharacteristically deep in thought.

Numbuh 5 spoke again :

"And why should we trust anythin' you say? We don't know you."

"Because otherwise you're taking the risk of letting the evil adults take over the world", the teen explained, "and have the Kids Next Door being reduced to a dozen rebels hiding in an abandoned building without being able to fight back the coffee-crazed villains. And without Rainbow Monkeys because the grown-ups keep them all to themselves."

The last part caused Kuki to scream in terror. To their teammates' greatest surprise, Wally didn't seem to react. He was still thinking.

"We need to save the Rainbow Monkeys from the adults right now!" Numbuh 3 stated, already storing as many 2x4 weaponery as she could in her pockets.

And finally, Numbuh 4 spoke :

"Are you a boy or a girl?"

The visitor from the future stared at him in silence for a few seconds before replying :

"Hum… No. And how is that relevant anyway?"

The second after that, since no-one could say no to Numbuh 3, the kids got the S.C.A.M.P.E.R. ready.

It was a long ride to the still-under-construction coffee rig indicated by Numbuh 111 ; therefore the members of Sector V took some time to interrogate them further.

"How did you get to be a teen operative?" Numbuh 5 asked as she leaned back into the leader's chair. She froze for a second and sit up straight again when she realised what she was doing, then went back to her more comfortable position when she remembered this wasn't Nigel's seat anymore, but rightfully hers.

"Well, we don't decommission teens as much as you did", Numbuh 111 explained. "All youth need to stick together if we want to survive in the adult-dominated world and… Alright, they kept me because I make the best cakes."

"They kept a cruddy teenager in the Kids Next Door for some cruddy cake?" Numbuh 4 shouted.

"Hey, my cakes are not cruddy!"

"We should be talking about plans or somethin'" Abby stated. "What can we expect once we get there?"

The teen extended their hand again and started their hologram projector.

"Of course Cuppa Joe will be here, that's his coffee rig" they told the others as a full-colour, 3-dimensional image of said villain appeared right above their palm. "But he needed some funding to get newer, better machines and stuff, so he called for Mister Boss' help", they continued as the projection changed to Mister Boss. "And also the help of…" the hologram changed once more, this time taking the form of Father, before Numbuh 111 finished : "…Big Matchstick here. They're supposed to meet up and discuss their evil plans together, but we should arrive and sabotage the place before the last two arrive. We infiltrate the rig, we find the pumps, we destroy them, we booby trap the place so no-one can build anything there ever again and we leave. How's that for a plan?"

They closed their fist, turning their hologram projector off.

"Speaking of booby traps", Numbuh 2 said, "I got a joke-"

"Please don't", Numbuh 111 interrupted him.

Abby thanked the teen for their intervention and Hoagie mumbled something about the other two not having any idea what good humour was.

Numbuh 5 got up, walked to the time traveller and whispered so only the two of them could hear :

"Numbuh 5's warning ya : if this turns out to be some of trap-"

"I didn't flippin' flee my own home so I could join the KND to have my allegiance questioned" they replied in the same tone.

Abigail nodded and went back to her seat. She would trust this teen operative for now. Even if something did go wrong, she knew from experience her team could survive it.


	2. Chapter 2

"Target sighted, Numbuh 5!" Numbuh 2 said as the still-under-construction coffee rig was finally visible through the windshield of the ship. The rest of the team and Numbuh 111 approached the cockpit to take a look, standing on either side of the pilot.

"It doesn't look so big", Kuki commented. "This should be easy!"

"That's only the surface" Numbuh 111 informed her. "The coffee they detected is very deep under the Earth's crust. Deeper than they could reach without having their equipment melt. Until now. And we'll have to go down the whole thing to destroy it. And then-"

They were interrupted by a radio transmission from the coffee rig.

"Triple Espresso to Unidentified Ship", Cuppa Joe's voice said over the radio. "Identify yourself or have your ship shot out of the sky."

"We're spotted!" Hoagie realised. "What do we tell him?"

"Don't worry, I got this" Numbuh 111 told him as they activated the ship's communicator and cleared their throat.

"You know perfectly well who I am", they spoke into the microphone.

The four kids froze and stared at the teen, as the latter was now speaking in a completely different voice. A voice they knew all too well.

"Oh, I'd recognise that voice anywhere!" the radio replied. "We've been expecting you, Father! But why are you flying in-"

"Because those pesky Kids Next Door destroyed my ship so I took theirs", the time-traveller explained, still speaking in their perfect Father impersonation. "Now let me land this piece of junk already! I don't have all day!"

"Roger that, sir!"

The members of Sector V were still starring at their new ally in stunned silence.

"What?" Numbuh 111 asked. "I had to come up with something."

"How did you do that?" Numbuh 2 asked them.

"Can you do it again?" Numbuh 3 added.

"Who are you? For real?" Numbuh 5 questioned the teen.

The latter raised their gloved hands up and took a step back.

"W-what? I… I told you! I'm Numbuh 111! Jeez, you guys have never heard good impressions before? Anyway, we better land now : if we just stay there they'll get suspicious."

"Numbuh 2, land this ship", Abby ordered. "Numbuh 4, keep an eye on our friend."

"Alright, I'll keep an eye on him… her… whatever", Wally replied, crackling his knuckles in an attempt to look tougher.

Numbuh 111 rested their arms on their hips and impersonated the short boy's voice in a mocking tone :

"Ooooh, I'm Numbuh 4 and I apparently forgot the singular they is a thing! Maybe next time I talk about Numbuh 111 I'll frickin' remember it!"

"Hey, I don't sound like that!" Wally protested.

"This sounded exactly like Numbuh 4!" Kuki exclaimed. "Do it again!"

Hoagie landed the ship before the teen operative could reply. Now wasn't the time for impersonations anymore : the five youngsters had a mission to accomplish.

"'Guess we'll play later", the time traveller said while tinkering with the buttons on their wrist. "Everyone stay very close to me or the camouflage won't work."

The kids grouped around the teen and all five of them slowly walked out of the ship, hidden behind a holographic projection of their current environment.

"Future technology is cool!" Numbuh 2 said, a large smile on his face.

"And it would be even cooler to get inside before they realise the old man isn't actually here yet", Numbuh 111 replied.

Avoiding the construction crew the best they could, that the five youngsters entered the building in complete silence.

According to the time traveller, there were two main pipes plus two auxiliary ones to destroy. The plan was to split up in two groups once they were under the ocean so they could get the job done faster.

Numbuhs 3 and 4 were going with the time traveller ; Numbuh 2 decided to follow Abby.

"Man, the 2x4 technology of the future is so cool!" Hoagie exclaimed as he examined the small bombs given to him and Abby by Numbuh 111 before the group split up.

"Move it, Numbuh 2", Numbuh 5 told her teammate, "Numbuh 5's pretty sure the adults realised we tricked them by now. 'Better find the pipes before they send their mooks after us."

"Yes m'am!" Numbuh 2 replied while putting the bombs back in his pockets and picking up the pace to catch up on his leader.

The only sources of light down here were the flashlights attached to their weapons. Also, the temperature in the tunnel got hotter and hotter as they progressed. Hoagie was already covered in sweat and Abby would soon be as well.

A strange sound made both kids stop right there and look around, their flashlights only revealing dirt and rocks. Then, the wall seemed to tremble ; the second it started to split open, Numbuh 5 grabbed her comrade by his collar and tossed him forward right on time for him not to be hit by the high-pressure spurt of boiling hot coffee right behind them.

"Numbuh 5 really don't like this place", Abby said as she and Numbuh 2 started moving again, listening carefully to every sound and eyeing every inch of the tunnel suspiciously.

They reached the first auxiliary pipe a while later. A pool of boiling coffee surrounded it ; however a small bridge (probably constructed in case someone needed to repair the pipe) gave an easy access to it. They stuck some of Numbuh 111's small bombs all around it, backed away, turned their weapons on the bridge to destroy it and then moved on to the main pipe.

"Don't you feel too hot with all that stuff you're wearing?" Numbuh 4 asked. "It's at least eleventy billion degrees in here or somethin'!"

"Fire cannot kill a dragon" Numbuh 111 replied as they stuck their bombs around one of the two main pipes.

"What?" the short boy said, confused. "What the crud are you talking about?"

"Come on, Wally, it's not that hot!" Kuki stated. "If we could get a better lighting down here and cute decoration and some plushies and stuff, it would be per-fect!"

Numbuh 4 didn't know what to respond to any of this and didn't understand how the other two remained seemingly unaffected by the heat. He didn't get much time to think about it though, as he heard footsteps approaching from behind.

He and Numbuh 3 turned around and pointed their flashlights towards the source of the sound: a bunch of adults, most likely Cuppa Joe's minions, ready to fight against the Kids Next Door.

Now this was something Wally knew about very well : kicking adult butts.

He and Kuki started firing immediately to prevent the enemies from reaching the pipe. A few "ouch"s were heard but it was quite difficult to hit every target with so little lighting. As a result, a couple of mooks managed to reach the two kids ; however Numbuh 3 effortlessly evaded all attacks and Numbuh 4 leaped on the nearest adult to punch them in the guts.

The very next second, Numbuh 111 finished installing the bombs and joined their comrades in the fight, customised F.R.A.P.P.E.[1] in hand, and shot their freezing rays at the enemies.

Soon enough, everyone in the small group of adults was defeated or temporarily frozen, which basically amounted to the same thing.

"We should meet up with the rest of your team again before more adults come", the teen advised the kids. "And I bet the enemy is waiting for us up there…"

* * *

[1]F.R.A.P.P.E. : Numbuh 4 uses one in Operation L.I.Z.Z.I.E. if you want to look it up. Numbuh 111 customised theirs by writing their numbuh on it.


	3. Chapter 3

The two groups of operatives found each other again near the insanely long ladder they had to use earlier to climb down there. However, they weren't alone : a dozen adult mooks stood between the youngsters and the only exit.

The operatives didn't waste any time and started firing their S.C.A.M.P.P.s or F.R.A.P.P.E. while charging the enemy line. Shots and punches were exchanged, a couple of adults were frozen and a couple more tripped on their comrades in the dark, and the rest pursued the kids and teenager as they reached the ladder. Numbuhs 2 through 5 started climbing while Numbuh 111 stayed in the tunnel to seal it with ice, temporarily entrapping the adults.

"That should hold them until the ice mel-"

The teen didn't even get to finish the last word before a sudden spurt of boiling coffee melted their wall of ice instantly.

"Seriously?!" they shouted in frustration as they backed away from the adults.

Then, the time traveller turned around and started to climb after their friends. Once they had gained a bit of distance, they took a look down and entrapped the enemies under a thick sheet of ice. This time it should hold them off for a while.

The five youngsters kept climbing as they heard explosion sounds in the distance. The pipes were now destroyed but they still had yet to escape the place.

The climb seemed endless. They were starting to tire. And yet they went on. No other adult went to meet them from above ; they most likely all were waiting for the five of them to arrive to the surface all exhausted from everything.

It was then that Numbuh 111 got another idea : create another sheet of ice for them and the kids to rest on for a few minutes. Just long enough to catch their breath before getting back on the ladder. They repeated the process a few times before they finally made it to the surface.

Cuppa Joe, Mister Boss and their minions were waiting for the operatives all around the top of the ladder. Numbuh 5 arrived first, leapt on top of the nearest mook's head then jumped from person to person, landed right next to the exit door, turned around to face the enemy troops and fired her weapon at anyone who approached her or friends (who were starting to emerge from the pit).

"Don't just stand there you idiots, go get h-" Mister Boss started yelling before being literally frozen mid-word.

Numbuh 111 tried multiple times to hit Cuppa Joe with their weapon ; however he was way too fast for them or anyone else. Wally was the one to take him down (literally) by taunting him into a fistfight then moving out of the way as soon as the caffeine-crazy villain started to charge him ; the adult couldn't stop in time and fell into the pit the youngsters all emerged from moments ago.

"See you next fall!" Numbuh 2 shouted down the pit right before he and Numbuh 3 closed the lid on the hole.

"Man, seriously?" Abby commented, rolling her eyes while holding her ground in the middle of the chaos.

"Everyone gets over here!" she ordered her allies. "Numbuh 5 can't hold 'em off forever!"

Numbuh 3 skipped around the room, effortlessly evading all attacks until she joined up with her leader on the other side of the room ; Numbuhs 4 and 111 fought their way through it and Numbuh 2 shot all the lightbulbs, plunging the room in darkness, and ran to his teammates.

The very second Abby opened the door, all five youngsters rushed out of the room onto the outside platform and closed behind them. The teen operative even sealed the frame in ice.

Next thing they knew, a dial on their arm that had been inactive until then started blinking red. They cursed under their breath as it flashed faster and faster.

"What's that for?" Hoagie asked.

"That means _he_ is here!" Numbuh 111 replied, holding onto their F.R.A.P.P.E. as though their life depended on it.

"Who?" Wally asked.

"Who do you think?!" the teen shouted.

The red dial on their arm was now lit without blinking at all. Then a way too familiar voice came from behind them, making them turn around to face its source.

"You again" Father said, his flames already surrounding him. "As if I hadn't seen enough of you little brats this week!"

He threw a big fireball at the kids ; Numbuh 111 immediately stepped in front of them to shield them… and was left completely unaffected by the flames.

Everyone stared at the teen in shock.

"Who… who are you?" the villain asked them.

"You'll know in a few years" they replied, pointing their weapon at him and pulling the trigger.

Nothing happened.

"Seriously?" Numbuh 111 cried out. "You can't run out when I need you the most!"

Seeing that his fire powers wouldn't be of any use against the teen, Father punched them in the face while they were still distracted by their toy not working ; they fell on their back and their ski goggles shattered.

Numbuh 5 only caught a glimpse of the balaclava they were wearing underneath before they covered their eyes with one hand and produced sunglasses from their pocket with the other.

It was only once the sunglasses (which were very similar to Numbuh 1's) were secured on their face that Numbuh 111 stood up.

"You… big… JERK!" they yelled at the villain, letting go of their now useless weapon and leaping on him.

"You guys go back to the ship while Father's distracted!" Numbuh 5 ordered her team while the adult and the teen were busy beating each other up.

"What about Numbuh 111?" Wally asked. "I'm supposed to keep an eye on them!"

"Forget it, just go!" Abby replied while picking up the time traveller's F.R.A.P.P.E..

Meanwhile, Numbuh 111 and Father got dangerously close to the edge of the platform. Neither of them seemed to notice though, as they kept punching and kicking each other.

Numbuh 5 tried to warn them but they didn't listen and ended up falling off the coffee rig and into the ocean.

As they were falling, Numbuh 111 produced a small cube from their pocket and threw it on the water beneath, where the item deflated into a lifeboat for them and Father to land on.

Or rather, Father landed on the boat while the teen landed on _him_ ; the two quickly separated and sat as far from each other as they could on such a tiny ship.

"You owe me brand new goggles, old man", Numbuh 111 pointed out as they fidgeted with what was left of their ski goggles hanging on their chest like some kind of weird pendant.

The adult chose to ignore their comment.

"Why do Kids Next Door always have to ruin everything?" he thought aloud.

"Excuse you, adults like you are the reason the KND exist in the first place! Because _you_ ruin everything! I wish I could have let you drown!"

"So why didn't you?"

The time traveller fell silent for a second before mumbling :

"Well… hum…"

"And aren't you too old to be a Kid Next Door?"

"I'm just giving them a hand for this mission only, I'm not actually one of them" the teen operative lied as they cautiously stood up. "Anyway, you can find your own way home. I'm leaving."


	4. Chapter 4

Sector V found Numbuh 111 again as they were trying to climb back onto the coffee rig.

Soon, all five of them were aboard the S.C.A.M.P.E.R. and heading back to the treehouse.

The teen silently stared into space for a moment, trying their best to ignore the three pairs of eyes (Hoagie had to keep his on where the ship was going) watching them. Finally, they turned around in their seat to look at the kids.

"You hid the mines and stuff all over the tunnels like we said, right? We don't want anyone to go in there and rebuild the thing…"

The members of Sector V nodded.

"So… I think I should come clean with you guys" Numbuh 111 stated.

"No kiddin'", Numbuh 5 said.

"I… Iliedtoyousoyoudaccepttohelpme" the time traveller explained really fast.

This statement was met by a loud "you what?!" from Numbuh 4 before Numbuh 111 explained further :

"It's all a stable time loop. The adult never took over the world because the Kids Next Door sent me to the past to work with you."

"So the adults don't control everything or keep all the Rainbow Monkeys to themselves in your time?" Kuki asked.

"As if _you_ would let that happen!" the teen operative laughed. "But yeah… I… I just wanted to apologise to you before going back home."

"_Home_?" Abby repeated. "Does that mean that 'fled from my home' thing was a lie too?"

"…Yeah. But we did prevent a dystopian world from happening, so… we're good?"

"Dysto-what?" Numbuh 4 asked.

"It's, hum… something really bad" Numbuh 2 answered briefly.

"I just wish I could have met my future dad here", the time traveller said. "That would have been interesting."

Numbuh 5 couldn't hold back a "wait, what?" of surprise.

"My future dad. Numbuh 1. I picked the number 111 for a reason."

"Oh. Numbuh 5 thought… Nevermind. But then why did you give Father your lifeboat?"

Even Numbuh 2 was staring at the teenager now.

"Wait, you saw- I didn't _give_ it to him, ok? I had to think fast, I threw the lifeboat, we happened to both land on it. What was I supposed to do, let us both drown?"

Abby decided it was fair enough.

The teen started tinkering with some dials on their arm, then stopped for a second to look the leader of Sector V in the eye.

"Before I go, a little tip for the future : if you get the opportunity to become Supreme Leader, take it."

Numbuh 111 stood up, said goodbye to the members of Sector V, pressed a few buttons on their arm, and went back to their own time knowing their mission was now complete.

_Many years later…_

What had once been an adult coffee rig under construction had long since been turned into the foundations of one of the KND's giant treehouse. Its isolated location made it the favourite refuge of secret teen operatives who wished to keep enjoying the treehouse experience without blowing their cover.

On one of the many balconies stood a blond girl wearing a colander helmet with the number 625 painted on it. She looked at the watch on her wrist expectantly then smiled as a flash of light appeared next to her, indicating Numbuh 111 was back from the past.

"Good to see you again, Numbuh 625", they said once the flash of light surrounding them had disappeared.

"Welcome back!" she replied, facing them. "How did it go? Did you get to see your dad?"

"'Guess it went well, or this place would look very different. And no, he had already left for space when I arrived."

Numbuh 625 nodded.

"And what happened to your goggles?" she asked, pointing at what was left of said object.

"Family reunion."

"Seriously, do you Unos ever have a family reunion that goes well?"

"Not really."

The two operatives went inside to meet the other Teens Next Door. Everyone was throwing a party to celebrate the victory against adult tyranny that took place in that very same spot in the middle of the ocean all these years ago. This anniversary party took place every year, but this time it felt special for Numbuh 111. It was no longer a distant event they had heard about, but something they actually took part in.

And they couldn't possibly be more proud to fight by the Kids Next Door's sides.


End file.
